John McKenna:

1.      Will you work to reform the education system so that all children in your constituency can access publicly-funded schools which have no religious ethos?

yes

2.      Would you support a referendum to remove religious references from the Constitution?

yes

3.      Do you believe that blasphemy should be a criminal offence?

no

4.      Would you support legislation to prevent hospitals from having a religious ethos?

yes

5.      If elected, would you vote to ensure that religious bodies are treated the same as other organisations under equality and employment legislation?

yes

6.      Do you believe that religions should have to pay their fair share of tax on income that does not come from charitable activities?

yes

7.      If you wish to provide a brief general statements of your views on the future development of secularisation in Ireland, or to highlight any previous comments you have made on related issues, please do so.

By strange irony our religious institutions have been the ones to do it: the test of Ireland as a secular state.

It doesn’t matter if you believe in God anymore. We have to run our affairs without the crutch, as some would call it, or the strength. In order to run this place well we have to take into account the overwhelming feature of the new place: young people who have no idea what Religion or Church is. If all our laws aren’t written with these next Irish people in mind we will alienate them from us. And fail the test.

Martin Ferris:

See the statement provided by Sinn Fein on behalf of all its candidates.

Arthur Spring:

See the statement provided by the Labour Party on behalf of all its candidates.

Jimmy Deenihan:

See the statement provided by Fine Gael on behalf of all its candidates.

John Sheahan:

See the statement provided by Fine Gael on behalf of all its candidates.

Tom Donovan

See the statement provided by the Green Party on behalf of all its candidates.

No Response Received From:

Tom McEllistrim

Mary Fitzgibbon

Bridget O’Brien

Mick Reidy

Candidate Not Contacted:

Sam Locke

Fine Gael statement

Green Party statement

Labour Party Statement

Sinn Fein Statement